The present invention relates to the field of laminated plastic display devices such as ID cards, sales presentation folders, memorabilia displays, greeting cards and the like.
In our somewhat mechanized and impersonal society, people have a need for self-expression. For example, conventional greeting cards although mass-marketed, lack the personal touch for many. People buy substitute "liscense plate" posters mounted on the front of their cars for self-expression but the messages and designs are limited in number and, like greeting cards, are not really customized. The need for self expression is partially satisfied by collecting memorabilia such as photos, nostalgic invitations, matchbook covers, post cards, newspaper clippings, theater tickets and the like. Such memorabilia is usually stored in file folders, albums or other containers where they are not continuously viewed, and hence often forgotten. They are also often unprotected against dampness and can be marred during handling by the collector.
Other types of memorabilia which are fun to produce, are PC generated imagery, customized with the aid of "desk-top" publishing programs. Examples are pictures of the family, pets, the family house and car and so forth. Such customized pictures may be comical by, for instance, putting eye-glasses on ones dog or cat. As in the case of the aforesaid memorabilia, it is desirable to continuously display and preserve this type of somewhat fragile computer output, which would be fun to laminate upon a customized greeting card, wall display or in the license plate format mentioned above.
It is believed that this need for self-expression may be fulfilled by providing people with a method of self-laminating such memorabilia on the spot, without sending the material to a mail order laminating facility, to create customized visual displays for continuous viewing. Lamination of such material within a plastic envelope also preserves the memorabilia indefinitely and greatly improves the aesthetic appearance thereof. The desired do-it-yourself self-laminating process should be quick and easy to carry out on-the-spot, by any unskilled person. Optionally, it would be desirable to provide a method of lamination not requiring a conventional laminator at all, although a conventional laminator could produce a better lamination.
Furthermore, even conventional laminating equipment, often results in the production of a laminated product having skewed, unaesthetically positioned or cockeyed insert sheets which in effect ruins the insert sheet memorabilia display. This is because the insert sheets are not initially aligned parallel with the edges of the plastic envelope, or even if initially aligned, become misaligned during handling just before insertion into the laminator. This problem is aggrevated when laminating more than one insert and/or laminating a two-sided display in a manner to be described.